“He was scared,” the refreshingly-honest Richardson said. “I’ve seen him play at Boston College. Didn’t run the same. He was scared, man. He did his thing against the 2s and 3s though, I give him that.”

He was hesitant? “Yeah. Tiptoeing a lot,” Richardson said.

Eli Manning’s ongoing struggles with Ben McAdoo’s West Coast offense were difficult to miss until the 11-play, 91-yard touchdown drive before halftime.

“Got some kinks to work out, you can notice that stuff, little stuff like that — it’s to the point where he don’t trust his offensive lines that much, ’cause he’s watching the rush,” Richardson said. “Little stuff like that.”

“They got around the edges a few times, but other than that, pretty much dead the whole night when we [the starters] were out there. The referees thawed ’em out too a little bit with not giving us our interception, but it is what it is.”

Manning still found a way to get his team into the end zone on that drive.

Calvin Pace recognizes that offenses are vanilla by design in the preseason. “I do think they were trying to establish the running game, which is what the Giants have been doing forever,” Pace said, “which, I think is good for their team. I think they got two running backs that fit what they’re trying to do.”

Asked what he thought of Jennings, Pace said: “I like him. I think he’s a very good back. Runs hard, can break tackles, got some speed. I think he’s gonna do some damage for ’em.”

And the rookie? “He’s gonna be a good player,” Pace said. “He runs hard, and downhill.”

The linebacker is confident teams will have trouble on the ground against the Jets.

“I like the way we match up with anybody, man,” Pace said. “I think it’s gonna be real difficult for teams to just legitimately run the ball down the field.

“In this day and age, let’s be real — nobody really is that committed to the run anymore. I think that day is gone. It’s just a passing league, it’s almost college. Everybody wants to put up 5,000 yards in a season. It’s the changing times.”

Manning and the Giants, Snoopy Trophy notwithstanding, are trying so hard to change with them.